The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-06-18

| And this is how Mary came to Prairie
City, and how she and Peter went away
together.-Dakota Bell.
INTELLIGENT PIGS.
Well Authenticated Cases of Great sassc-
ity Displayed by Bright Porkers.
Next to the donkey, there is no four
footed creature that has been so ma
ligned MS piggy. Time and again he
has shown himself to be II very clever
and even sagacious beast 1t is cruelty
libelous to regard the pig as a stupid,
brutal, gluttonous and uncleanly quad
ruped, grovelng and repulsive in all
its habits and intractable and obstinate
in temper. He may often seem to be
endowed with these disgraceful attri-
butes, because, as Il rule, there is moth
ing in the life of pig in his domesti-
Gated state to call for any exercise OF
his reasoning faculties. His sole busi-
ness is to eat, drink, sleep and get fat;
all his wants are anticipated and his
mental horizon is bounded by the fence
which guards his sty. When, however,
it is the interest or the whim of his pos
SCISSOR to teach the pig or to fondle him,
he can be, without much difficulty, con-
verted into docilc pupil and a highly
pleasing pet. The original learned pig
which was exhibited in Pail Mall nearly
n hundred years ago had been taught
to pick up letters written upon pieces Of
of cardboard at command and arrange
them into words. This intelligent crea-
ture died in due course of nature,
rs all mortal swine must do; but
since 1889 there has never been a solu-
tion of continuity in the race of
learned pigs exhibited at country
fairs, although none have shown
equal talent with the sage of Pail
Mall. There is the well-known
case. too. of the gentleman re-
siding at Caversham, who, at Read
ing market bought two pigs, which
were conveyed to his house in sack
and turned into n yard on the bank of
the Thames. The next morning the ami
mails were missing. A hue and Cry was
raised and information was brought
that two pigs had been seen swimming
across the liver at nearly its broadest
part. They were afterward observed
trotting along the Pangbourne road and
in one place where the road bifurcates
they were seen putting their noses to-
gether as if in earnest consultation.
Eventually they returned safely to the
farmhouse whence they had been orig
inally conveyed to Reading. The farmer
sent them back to the gentleman at
Caversham, but again the animals con-
trived to make their escape, swimming
the river as though they had been two
dogs and thereby refuting the proverb-
ial but slanderous imputation that pigs
can not swim without cutting their
throats. 1t is well known that at pro-
vincial regattas pigs have frequently
taken prizes for feats in notation. The
ingenious DR.. Erasmus Darwin, in his
"Zoonomia," has. perhaps, most sue
cinctly, yet most comprehensively,
: summed up the case for and against
the pig. II have Observed" he writes,
"great sagacity in swine, but the short
lives which we allow them and their
usual confinement prevent their i'm
provcment, which would otherwise
probably equal that of the dog
There it is. The infelicitous piggy
carries even in his babyhood, as it were,
the word of doom, ''thanatos' branded
on his snout. In his sucking stage
gourmands hunger for his flabby flesh
|, and yearn to see his yet tender pachy.
i dermatous envelop scorched into crisp
cracking. His brain power has no time
for development; since his cerebral
organism is ruthlessly &tilized as brain
sauce, or if he be allowed somewhat
longer span of life, he is dairy-fed only
to be slaughtered and roasted with the
Accomplishments of sage and onions and
apple sauce.
! Pigs have been repeatedly known Sc
attach themselves to individuals or to
other animals and to show the creates,
docility. gcntleness and affection. Mr.,
/ Henderson, the writer of II well-known
| work on swine, relates that he had q
young sow of good breed so docile
that she would suffer his youngest son,
three years of age, to climb upon heI
back and ride her about for half an
hour at time and more. When she
/ was tired of the sport she would lay
herself down, carefully avoiding hurt
ing her young jockey, who habitually
shared his bread and meat with her.
DeDieskau also cites the case of "A wild
boar which he caught very young and
which formed such an attachment to O
young lady residing in the house that
he accompanied her wherever she went
and slept upon her bed. This affections
ate creature fretted himself to death on
account of fox which had been taken
into the house to be tanned. .-LondOh
] Telegraph.
Superstitious Chinanen.
Chinese laborers will not work in tn.
= b;rv M N ivan thrn,, crn ,vhinh tha IL.